Equipoise
by BunnyGoBoom
Summary: Roy Harper joins the team, and Felicity has trouble adjusting to the sudden influx of testosterone.
1. Equipoise

**This takes place in the future, not long after Roy Harper joins the team.**

* * *

Felicity tried her very, very best to keep her eyes on the monitor, but it was much harder than it used to be.

When Felicity first joined the Arrow team, it took her a while to adjust to having two muscular, shirtless men work out in front of her. Her school-girl crush on Oliver made it even harder not to drool at the sight of his naked torso, but it was balanced out by her decidedly platonic relationship with Diggle. Yeah, Diggle was totally buff, but the effect was canceled out by their friendship.

But now her equilibrium was thrown off. Oliver had taken on a new sidekick, a kind of mini-Hood. Roy Harper was a poor kid from the Glades with sick skills and the ability to keep up with the emerald archer. He has been nice to Felicity since they met and joked around with her like Oliver used to.

Also, he looked like a freaking Abercrombie model.

Felicity got all quiver-y at the sight of him, too. But it was worse than her feelings for Oliver, because she was pretty sure Roy was jailbait. Wasn't he Thea's age? That made him legal, but it still made her feel uncomfortably cougar-ish.

So the number of half-naked hotties was three, and only one of them didn't make her swoon. Diggle wasn't diluting the atmosphere like he used to. So Felicity's gaze occasionally flitted to the shirtless, sweaty sparring partners. Thankfully, they were too busy to notice her.

There was, of course, Diggle's super-sized biceps and pecs, which would have her gawking if she weren't such good friends with him. And Oliver… Well, he was _Oliver_, all sturdy and ripped and covered in sexy scars and tattoos. And something about his stubble really turned her on. Oh, and his eyes… they were so sad sometimes. They made her want to cuddle the shit out of him. It was a good thing she knew nothing would ever happen between her and Oliver; it kept her grounded in reality. And then there was Roy—sweet, sexy, too-young-for-her Roy, with his cocky, boyish smile and amazing cheekbones, and those blue eyes that turned her insides to mush… and that was just his _face_. He had that long, toned upper body and he was really limber and—

"Felicity,"

She blinked, realizing that she had been staring. What was worse, _they _realized she had been staring. Oliver and Roy looked at her bemusedly.

"Felicity," Diggle said again. "You, uh… you zoned out. You okay?"

Embarrassed, she nodded and wiped at the drool on her chin and turned her attention to the monitors.

"We distracting you, Smoak?" Roy said with a smirk. "Or were you just sleeping with your eyes open?"

Felicity adjusted her glasses, ignoring the question.

Enjoying her meekness, Roy walked over to her desk and leaned over the monitor. She made it a point not to look him in the eye.

"Well, which one is it?" he teased.

"Roy, leave my geek alone." Oliver warned from his place on the mat. "You're not done training, anyway."

_Geek? Seriously?_ Annoyed, Felicity stood up, her chair rolling away behind her.

"That's the issue isn't it?" she said, looking at Oliver. "You guys only see me as a geek! I'm just the weird little gremlin who does all the tech work! Well I happen to be a woman, too, and I'd appreciate you recognizing that!"

The guys glanced at each other, surprised by the outburst.

"Felicity," replied Oliver. "We know you're a woman—"

"Really?" she said incredulously. "So are you _intentionally_ trying to make me feel like a birthday girl at Chippendale's?"

Roy snorted, trying not to laugh. The other two raised their eyebrows.

"It's not funny!" she snapped, addressing Roy. "You three and your shirtless ninja routine are screwing with my equipoise! And it was hard enough to deal with Oliver without adding you to the mix, Boy Wonder!"

She looked at Oliver, recognizing how that sounded. "Not that I have a crush on you, Oliver, it's just that you have abs…solutely no idea how hot—Oh, wait, that was an even worse direction to go in! Ugh! Why am I even still talking? If you asked me to spell my name right now I'd say 'B-i-c-e-p.'"

Oops. That didn't help at all. The guys were staring at her, stunned and slightly amused. She closed her eyes in horror. "Boy, do I suck." _Dammit_! Her eyes opened and she finally blushed a bright red. "I don't mean that as a come-on! I just… Roy, stop laughing at me! That's it! I'm going home!"

They watched her clumsily grab her things and climb the stairs. When she was half-way up, Roy finished laughing.

"Hey, Felicity!" he called. Irritated, she turned around. "Think about me first." he said with a wink.

After gasping indignantly, she resumed climbing the stairs with renewed vigor.

The door slammed and Roy turned to Oliver. "Dude, she's hilarious! Where'd you find her again?"

"Hm?" Oliver blinked, snapping out of his daydream about Felicity sucking. "The IT Department. Same place everyone gets their geeks."

* * *

**I'm not a Roylicity (Feliciroy?) shipper, I've just been wondering how they'd interact if and when they eventually work together. But now I'm also a little shipcurious about them…**


	2. He's the Beast

**This drabble is not connected to "Cupid's Arrow;" I'm just borrowing character details from it.**

** I hope this isn't OOC. But really, if Roy's going to be silly with anyone, it'll probably be Felicity.**

* * *

The sound of fists hitting the punching bag echoed through the factory basement. Roy had been "benched" for an error made on his last outing, so while Oliver and Diggle were out kicking ass and raising hell, he was stuck in the basement with Felicity.

Not that he was entirely unhappy with the arrangement.

She sat at her desk, doing geeky, computer-related things Roy didn't understand. He swung away at the punching bag in an effort to quell his annoyance at being left out of the vigilante fun. But that wasn't the only reason, for he was aware of his blonde, flusterable audience who tried and failed to block him out with her monitor. So he made a show of it, hitting hard and fast and impressively. And shirtlessly, too. His goal was to catch her ogling so he could tease her for it.

After two minutes of nonstop boxing awesomeness, he looked over and saw that she wasn't even facing him. Her chair was turned around and… and that just pissed him off. Frowning, he walked over to her.

"Want me to tell Oliver that you're slacking off?" he taunted, grabbing her chair and spinning it around to face him.

She blinked up at him. "Hmm? Oh, sorry, I… I just started thinking about something."

_Me, maybe?_ He smirked. "And what was so interesting that you had to turn away from the computer to think about it?"  
She had turned away from the computer so she couldn't see him, but she wasn't going to tell him that. "It was just something silly. Don't worry about it."

His smile grew. "You know I'll keep bugging you 'til you tell me."

Felicity rolled her eyes, knowing it was true. "Fine. I was wondering which Disney characters we were."

"Seriously?" Roy raised an eyebrow.

"Yes. Now go over there and keep hitting stuff or I'll tell Oliver you were bad."

He pouted. "You're not my babysitter."

Felicity pursed her lips to hide her smile. "Sure I'm not."

They were still and silent for a moment, a kind of battle of wills on Roy's part. Then his curiosity got the better of him.

"So what'd you come up with?"

"Huh?"

"Y'know, like, who are we? Who's Oliver? No, wait—I want to know who Diggle is first."

She giggled quietly. "I was having trouble with him. At first I thought Sebastian, but that doesn't seem to fit."

Eyebrows furrowed, Roy stared at her for a second. "Mufasa?"

"Mufasa!" she repeated triumphantly. "He is! I mean, sort of…"

"And Oliver?"

Felicity glanced at the floor. "Um, I think he's the Beast. Not in a bad way, though."

Roy nodded as if she revealed a deep, existential truth. "Oh, yeah. He's definitely the Beast."

"He sure acts like him sometimes." she said under her breath.

"You're Rapunzel!" he exclaimed.

She looked up at him quizzically. "From _Tangled_?"

"Yeah, Obviously." Roy seemed surprised that she hadn't thought about it before. "Blonde hair, green eyes, awkward and smart…"

"Actually, I thought I was Belle. Well, not because Oliver is the Beast, it's just 'cause she's smart and different…"

He shook his head. "Nope, you're Rapunzel. You even have a pet reptile like she does."

She bit her lip, knowing he was referring to her pet tortoise. "Good point. As if I could be Belle, anyway…"

"Hey," Roy said, keeping her from slipping into an unpleasant train of thought. "Who am I?"

She almost said Aladdin, but then she thought of a character who fit even better. "Oh, you're Flynn Rider!" Her cheeks flushed crimson. "Not that it has anything to do with who I am."

He crossed his arms, offended. "You got a problem with being my princess?"

Felicity laughed nervously and turned back to her computer.

Annoyed, Roy walked around behind the desk to look at her over the monitor. "Is that a yes or no?"

"That's a 'get back to your training and let me work.'" She answered without lifting her eyes from the screen.

"That sounds like a yes."

"Yep."

Roy rested his forearms on the top of the monitor, which always irritated the crap out of her. "What? Why don't you want to be my princess? I'm awesome!"

She rolled her eyes at him. "Go work out, Roy."

"All right, listen!" He held up his hands in a placating gesture. "I didn't want to have to do this, but you leave me no choice. Here comes the smolder." Then Roy gave her his best blue steel.

It took all Felicity's willpower not to smile, let alone laugh. She just raised an incredulous eyebrow.

Roy dropped his expression and replaced it with a bewildered one. "This is kind of an off-day for me. This doesn't normally happen."

"Hm," she hummed, nodding. "Well, get back over there or I'll break your smolder."

Roy rested his chin on his arms and stared at her.

"What? Are you bored? Do you want me to get you some crayons and a coloring book?" she quipped.

"You'd really rather be Belle, wouldn't you?"

His sincerity caught her off guard. She swallowed, trying to collect her thoughts. She felt she needed to say something, but words were failing her. He sounded so… dejected. Was he messing with her? If so, he was being awfully sadistic.

Suddenly, they heard the door open and the Hood descended the stairs.

"Felicity," he called. "Did you make sure Roy stayed put?"

"Uh…" Still rattled, she looked at Oliver then Roy then back again. "Yeah,"

"Good." Oliver handed her a security fob. "Hack that for me." he commanded before walking over to his green box.

Cold as always. Felicity saw Roy shake his head from the corner of her eye.

"Yep, he's definitely the Beast." he muttered so only she could hear.

* * *

**This sweetness will be followed by sexiness, I promise! **


	3. The Rubicon

**I know this is jumping forward a bit, like something should've gone before it, but I tried to write the third chapter of **_**Equipoise**_** a bunch of different times and nothing else felt right. So I'm really going to need feedback for this one, because I'm not sure why my mind was so insistent on doing it this was.**

**Also, what do you think? Feliciroy, Roylicity, Sharper, or Hark?**

* * *

_No way did this really happen, _Felicity thought as she examined her sore, aching body in her bathroom mirror. A few raised red lines marked her thighs and waist, but the love bites and hickeys were more intriguing. She counted two pairs of crescent-shaped bruises: one on her shoulder and the other on her inner thigh. The hickeys were more numerous and ranged from her neck down to her thighs. Her favorite—uh, the most fascinating one—was the little suction bruise on the inside of her hipbone. She remembered every moan he wrung from her as he worked at her skin. Actually, she remembered just about everything that happened last night. It seemed it hadn't taken much wine for her to sleep with Roy Harper.

Oliver was totally to blame. Her relationship with Roy had been really healthy until the idiot playboy billionaire decided to get back with Laurel _again_. Stupidest thing he could do, really; they were so toxic and doomed. So when Felicity found out, she was upset. Very upset. Watch-TV-while-eating-ice-cream-and-sipping-red-wi ne upset. She even put on her outfit of indifference (ratty old sweatpants and baggy MIT shirt), which meant she had no desire to see the outside world. Then the doorbell rang, and she foolishly thought that Oliver had come to his senses. But no. It was Roy.

Roy was her buddy. He wasn't as cool as Diggle, and he was kind of annoying and liked to pick on her, but they had been getting close since he joined the team. When he wasn't teasing her, he was being a total sweetheart. He made her laugh and told her she was pretty. And it made her feel special that he'd share this fluffy-kitten vulnerability with her, since he was usually all smartass and tough with everyone else. He'd become the Derek Morgan to her Penelope Garcia, and the thought always made her blush.

So when he'd shown up to make her feel better, she was happy about it. He listened and gave her a hug and was very understanding, because anyone who knows Oliver knows how dumb he is. They shared her pint of Ben & Jerry's Karamel Sutra (Funny, she thought that'd be the closest thing she'd have to sex that night.) and passed the bottle of wine back and forth. She realized too late that he probably wasn't old enough to drink, so she didn't stop him. He could either walk home or sleep on her couch. Big deal.

When tears began running down her face, he kissed her. Surely it wasn't a _real_ kiss; just a comforting one. A kiss to remind her she wasn't an ugly, unwanted, invisible freak with no sex appeal. It worked well, as did the one that immediately followed. And the one after that. Then suddenly Roy seemed a little _too _sexy. For his shirt, specifically. So she took it off of him. Being shirtless must have been really fun, because he took off hers too so she could join in on the excitement. And it _was_ really fun. Groping and being groped was even more fun. Also, tongues are underappreciated. They can do so many wonderful things.

At one point the shenanigans were moved to the bedroom, and most of Felicity's memory of that was a hot, sweaty blur; only the naughty little wounds gave her any degree of clarity when it came to remembering that part. She did recall other small things though, like purring when he whispered in her ear or screaming his name when he hit just the right spot.

Felicity blushed and watched the color rise in her cheeks as she continued to stare at herself in the mirror. She looked so absolutely sexed. The tousled hair, the multiple love marks, the plumped-up lips from all that kissing…

This was _so_ bad. Like, really super awful. What has she _done_? Could they even work together after this? Would Roy even be able to look at her after this? He's as out of her league as Oliver. He might be disgusted with himself! And how old was he again? Was she a cradle-robbing cougar? Just how illegal is underage drinking? Shaking her head, she chose to leave the bathroom and bravely face her fate.

Roy was just as sexy and adorable and asleep as he had been before she'd retreated to the bathroom. Why did he have to have that face? It wasn't fair. Those _cheekbones_. UGH.

She walked slowly over to the bed, then suddenly felt very uncomfortable with being naked. But she didn't have time to find clothes because he was waking up. So she snatched her pillow and covered herself with it, hugging it to her chest.

He looked at her blearily, and she waved. Then he got the biggest, cutest smile on his face. "Good morning, Rapunzel."

Hmm. Not quite what she expected. "You seem… pleased."

Roy took a moment to stretch before replying. "Bit of a hangover, but yeah, I'd say I'm pleased. You?"

"Same. About the hangover, I mean. Just a headache, really."

Pouting, he propped himself up on his elbows. "You're not happy about last night?"

She laughed. "I'm surprised _you_ are. It was… um… Well, it doesn't matter because we shouldn't have done it. For like, a million reasons."

He cocked an eyebrow, and it was so sexy she had to clutch the pillow tighter. "Am I still dating Thea?"

"No, but—"

"Are you with anyone?"

"No—"

"So we weren't cheating, then. I don't see the problem."

"Seriously?" Felicity chewed her lip, afraid to ask her question. "How old are you, exactly? It never really comes up and Oliver doesn't seem to care."

"Nineteen and a half."

Felicity's jaw dropped. "_Nineteen!?_"

"And a _half_. I'm legal, aren't I?"  
"Barely!"

Roy rolled his eyes in annoyance but he still looked amused. "So what if you're a few years older than me?"

"I'm twenty-seven, Roy. I'm eight years older than you."

He didn't even blink. "Seven and a half, actually. What else you got?"

Ah. So he really didn't care. "This could interfere with work."

"Yeah, but it won't."

"Why are you okay with this?" she whined.

That finally got a reaction. He shifted towards her then got on his knees so they were eye level. She blushed like crazy when she made the mistake of looking down.

"Damn, you're cute when you blush." he commented, his hands on her hips. The tender contact made her swallow hard and shakily push her glasses up the bridge of her nose. Younger or not, he was clearly the dominant one. "You're the only one I can be vulnerable around, or haven't you noticed? I've always had to be tough and keep my guard up, even with Thea. She understood me, I mean she's got family issues and a criminal record like me, but I didn't think I could show any weakness. Other than like, manly weakness, you know? I mean she'd never catch me quoting Disney or being a goofball. But then I met you. You're such a dork. And you blush a lot and you're shy." He pulled her fractionally closer. "I like it,"

The pillow was the only thing between them, and she had half a mind to throw it aside and get closer. "You just called me a dork."

"Mm-hmm," he responded, his thumbs rubbing circles on her skin. "You're also _really_ sexy."

She giggled and he tried to wrestle the pillow away from her. When he succeeded, he yanked her into an embrace and their bodies met with a soft smack. Her arms were crushed between them, which made her feel even more at his mercy.

"Roy, please stop seducing me." she said weakly.

His hand slid down to her lower back. "Why, is it working?"

Felicity gulped. "We've already done a lot to jeopardize our friendship. Don't you think we should stop before we make things any worse?"

He frowned. "What are you talking about? We're great together; it's been obvious for months now. How are we jeopardizing anything?"

She bit her lip. "Well, we're kinda crossing the Rubicon with this whole, um… being-naked-and-having-sex thing. What if you change your mind later?"

A muscle twitched in his jaw as he clenched his teeth. "You think I'm gonna get bored of you or something?"

"Can you blame me? Look at you, Roy! You're like, really hot. I mean _really_ hot. Like the-sun-is-an-ice-cube-compared-to-you hot. Humanity would suffer a traumatic loss if you never procreated. Is that a vivid enough picture for you? Does that make you understand that you're out of my league?"

He might not have heard it all, because he started laughing after the ice cube thing. "Yeah, I'll admit that I'm pretty sexy—"

"You're a Greek god."

"—but I still totally want you. And once we find some more condoms, I'll prove it to you."

She smiled coyly. "I'm going to need a lot of convincing."

He liked the sound of that. Just when he was about to kiss her, there was a knock at the apartment door.

"One second," Felicity said as she wriggled from his grasp. Roy collapsed on the bed in aggravation as she slipped on her fluffy pink robe and hurried to the door.

At least it wasn't Oliver or Diggle. Boy, wouldn't _that_ have been awkward. It was her next-door neighbor Mrs. Chalupnik, her graying hair still in curlers. The older woman was usually nice albeit rough around the edges, but you didn't want to tick her off. She was very vocal about her pet peeves.

"Felicity, you clearly got some action last night and I'm very happy for you, but learn to scream into a pillow, okay? I think you and your gentleman caller kept up half the building last night with your raucous lovemaking. Roy, is it? It sounds like you were screaming that. Anyway, if you'd do something to muffle the sound of your carnal throes, we'd all appreciate it."

Felicity didn't think it was possible, but she'd never felt so awkward in her entire life. "I am so, so sorry, Mrs. Chalupnik. I promise I'll be more considerate—"

"Hey," Roy came out of the bedroom, half-dressed in his jeans and shoes. And he also had a few hickeys Felicity hadn't noticed until now, which was super. He saw Mrs. Chalupnik and got only slightly embarrassed. "Felicity, I just got called into work and I can't find my shirt."

By "work" he probably meant vigilante stuff. Great; that means she was probably going to get called in too. "It might be hiding under a throw pillow on the couch."

When he went to check, she turned back to her neighbor. Poor, poor Mrs. Chalupnik; it looked like she was having a heart attack.

"Oh, sweet lord," she said softly, gawking at Roy and putting a hand on Felicity's forearm. "Where did you find that? Is he a gigolo?"

"Mrs. Chalupnik, I did not hire a prostitute." she answered quietly.

She wasn't listening, though. "That must be nice to wake up to on a Saturday morning."

Well, she wasn't wrong. They both observed as he found his shirt and was finally ready to go. He waved goodbye to Paperweight then kissed Felicity before squeezing past the two women and hurrying down the hall.

"What a stallion," commented Mrs. Chalupnik, pulling at the collar of her housecoat as she watched him go. "Or is he more of a colt? How old is he?"

Felicity looked down and picked an imaginary ball of fuzz off the collar of her robe. "Nineteen and a half."

Her neighbor cackled. "Holy statutory, Batman! Did you seduce him by baking him some chocolate chip cookies? Kid's not even old enough to drink."

Felicity winced. "He is legal, though."

"Be a damn shame if he wasn't." She patted Felicity on the shoulder. "If you were my daughter, I'd be proud as hell. My late husband—rest his soul—had never been a looker. And I ain't ever bedded anyone as fine as that in my day."

"That's a lovely story." This bonding was slightly uncomfortable.

"But you should be careful, sweetheart," she warned, heading back to her apartment. "Check your wallet and jewelry box. Them strippers are shifty."

"He's not a stripper!" she contradicted a little too loudly. Mr. Flanagan was leaving his apartment to walk his Maltese and looked eager to escape the hallway.

"Fine, then." Mrs. Chalupnik was now standing by her door. "Is he a porn star? Maybe he's a porn star. Anyway, best of luck with your boytoy. I hope you get to tap that ass again."

"Great, thanks," At least she meant well. "I desperately need to go take a shower now." Then Felicity quickly closed the door before her neighbor could say anything else that was wildly inappropriate.


	4. Understood

The scarf was itchy, but Felicity felt less self-conscious wearing it; she didn't trust her cover-up, even though she used a lot of it and the hickeys were barely noticeable.

As she entered Verdant, she reluctantly removed her scarf and told herself that neither Diggle nor Oliver was going to pay attention to her neck. She descended the stairs with sweaty palms and rattlesnakes slithering in her belly.

They couldn't find out. And while Roy was Roy, he wouldn't tell, right? Right.

"'Sup, Smoak," called Roy in between punches as she reached the last step.

"Hey, Harper," The familiarity of the greeting made everything feel normal and helped ease the stress. Unfortunately, Roy was shirtless, his hickeys totally exposed. Diggle wasn't looking at her accusingly though, so she was still safe. Oliver wasn't present, which was kind of a relief.

Sitting down in her chair, she got right to business with the upgrade. Ten minutes in, just as she forgot the craziness of last night, Roy came over and leaned against her desk. Thankfully, this was normal too; he usually used his breaks to come talk to her.

"It is eight years, you know." she said in a hushed tone. "It's February and I'll be twenty-eight on June first. So I was right."

He smirked and spoke in the same tone. "Guess you were too ruffled to realize that earlier." Roy's smirk turned into a smile at the sight of her blush. "I'll be twenty on April third. So what? It's still not a big deal."

"You also left your jacket and hoodie at my place."

"So that's why I was freezing on the way over here."

"Were you hoping I'd feel obligated to bring them, thereby exposing our secret?"

"Maybe,"

"I'd really rather they didn't know."

"Okay," Roy really did seem surprisingly cool with it. "I won't tell anyone."

Nodding, she furtively glanced at the little bruises on his torso.

"I told Diggle it was just some bimbo I met here," he said. "You know, since I had the night off."

She raised an eyebrow. "Didn't we meet here?"

Before Roy could say anything, Oliver came down the stairs. And he was _smiling_. Ew. That smile could only mean one nasty, icky thing: the date went well.

"Looks like we're not the only ones who got lucky last night," Roy mumbled by her ear. She tried her very best not to scowl.

"Roy, go spar with Diggle." As he left, Oliver walked up behind her to take his place. When she turned her head to look at him, he suddenly stared in bewilderment at the back of her neck.

"What's that?" he asked when he reached her, his fingers sweeping her low ponytail out of the way.

_I must've missed one,_ she thought as she froze. _Why didn't I wear something with a collar? I'm wearing cover-up and I wore a scarf on the way here and I didn't even think to wear a shirt with a collar? I'm such an idiot!_ "Uh, this?" she said, pointing to the back of her neck. "I think it's a burn from my curling iron. I use a curling iron all the time. Do you think my hair just naturally does this? Because it doesn't. I need a curling iron to achieve this look."

"Hmm," Oliver wouldn't remove his hand. "Awful lot of makeup on your neck,"

"Don't you have something you need to do?"

"Why do you look so guilty?"

"I'm not guilty!" she said a little too loudly.

"Felicity, is this really a burn from your curling iron?" There was something…weird… about his expression. Like he was prepared to get angry.

Smacking his hand away, she turned her chair around to face him. "How was your date with Laurel last night?"

"Great," he said with a fake smile. "And I'm wondering if your night was just as great as mine."

Look at this asshole. Was he really trying to wheedle information out of her? And why did he seem mad? What the hell was that about? He clearly didn't think it was Roy because he hadn't looked at/tackled him at all, so what was wrong? Also, he implied that he slept with Laurel last night. So gross. "What do you mean by that?"

Oliver shrugged. "You've never mentioned a boyfriend, yet it _looks_ like you have one." he said, gesturing to her neck.

"If that were true, why would you even care?"

"I don't trust guys in general."  
"Because you're the best example of the worse the male gender has to offer." she said it as if she were commenting on the weather, and it made Oliver smile slightly. "Look, all I did last night was watch a couple of episodes of _New Girl_. The closest I got to sex was seeing a really hot guest star take his shirt off after eating three hallucinogenic mushrooms. I was amazed that I found him attractive despite his idiotic behavior and shallow personality, and that's the closest I got to any action last night. Well, that and I had Ben & Jerry's Karamel Sutra." She adjusted her glasses, maintaining steady eye contact. "Do you have any more questions? Because the upgrade is done and I'd like to go home."

He nodded. She grabbed her things and headed up the stairs.

As the door closed behind her and Oliver went to join the training, he noticed Roy's bruises. At first he thought they were from working out, but… they just didn't look right. In fact, they looked an awful lot like the burn on Felicity's neck.

Oliver made brief eye contact with Diggle, and he could tell they were thinking the same thing.

Roy suddenly found himself lying on the ground, gasping for breath. Oliver had a forearm to his throat, Diggle crouching beside him. Neither was looking too friendly.

"Roy," Oliver said in a measured tone. "If you hurt Felicity in any way, you will die in the most excruciating manner imaginable." He pressed harder on his throat. "And Diggle and I will watch. Is that understood?"

This coming from the guy Felicity was crying over last night. _You think _I'm_ going to hurt her? You've _been_ hurting her, you bastard!_ It was probably a good thing that the pain kept Roy from expressing how angry he felt.

"Yes, sir." he choked.

The Mini-Hood inhaled sharply after the weight was lifted from his throat. He struggled into a sitting position as Oliver passed by, heading to the punching bag as if nothing had happened. Diggle offered him a hand, and he reluctantly took it.

"Sorry about that, Roy," Diggle said, just loud enough for Roy to hear over the sound of Oliver's punches. "Gotta look out for our girl."

"You mean you weren't just looking for a reason to attack me?"

"Nope. We'd do the same thing to anyone who was dating Felicity. Hell, I'd do it to Oliver." Diggle glanced over at the playboy billionaire. "Especially Oliver." he muttered.

Roy's fingers gingerly touched where Oliver hit his stomach to bring him down; he was going to have a big bruise later. "Yeah, well… message received. Know what? I think I've had enough for today."

* * *

Felicity found herself smiling like an idiot when she heard a knock at the door. Well, it should've been the door, but it was the window in her bedroom. She dashed into her room, threw back the curtains, and opened the window.

"Please let me in before I freeze to death." begged Roy, who was huddled on the fire escape.

She reached out and bunched her fist in his shirt, dragging him in. "You should've at least taken your jacket."

His hands vigorously rubbed his upper arms as he stood before her. "Yeah, that was dumb. You mind warming me up?"

"Body heat is a great way to get warm." she stated as she pulled her sweater over her head.

"I was thinking a quilt and some hot cocoa, but that could work too."

"Get over here, you smartass."


	5. Holy Smoak

**Did anyone know that Felicity means "lucky" and Roy means "red"? Interesting tidbit. Just thought I'd throw that out there. Also, I gave Roy and Felicity the birthdays of two famous actors, if anyone is curious enough to look it up.**

* * *

Dating was for suckers; what Felicity and Roy had was way better. For them, there was no date one date two date three, no clearly defined time spent together that outlined when certain milestones in their relationship should happen. There was no impression stage, no awkward chitchat, no anxiety over deciding where to go.

They hung out. They went to the movies. They went to Big Belly Burger. They screwed each other exclusively. They were buddies who threatened to make out ferociously at any moment. Sometimes they were calm and platonic and other times they were ripping each other's clothes off.

Tonight would only be slightly different, since it was Valentine's Day. Their plan was to stay in and eat Chinese food and chocolate while watching _Doctor Who._ Seriously, one episode and Roy was hooked. They'd probably get to the ones with Ten before retiring to her bedroom for an erogenous romp between the sheets.

However casual their evening was going to be, Felicity still felt compelled to look her best. She'd gone to the mall and had come across a dress that called out to her so passionately that it surely would've escaped the store to follow her home if she didn't buy it. It fit like a glove, clung like a second skin. The skirt tapered to her knees and the sweetheart neckline showed off her cleavage while thick straps hid any hint of her lingerie. Oh, and it was red, Roy's favorite color.

She kept it simple with pear-shaped diamond earrings and a tennis bracelet, just enough sparkle to complement her curve-hugging maraschino masterpiece. Her hose had seams in the back and her stiletto heels could kill a man.

Her makeup was her crowning achievement: cat eye eyeliner, smoky eye shadow, and vermilion lips were made even more amatory by her artfully tousled curls.

Poor Roy didn't stand a chance.

Jittery with excitement, she gazed at herself in the bathroom mirror. Her unfamiliar reflection made it feel like she was about to go undercover on a Hood-related mission. Felicity smiled, knowing the truth was even better.

Her phone started playing "I Want Candy," meaning that Roy was calling. She tried not to squeal as she answered.

"Hey—"

"You need to get to Verdant as soon as possible."

She blinked, taken aback by his urgent tone. "Is everything okay?"

"You just… you need to be here. Oliver needs all of us here right now."

"Did he get shot again?"

"Smoak, just hurry!"  
Felicity slipped on her heels and grabbed her coat and purse, wishing there was enough time to change into sweatpants and take her contacts out. But she was out the door ten seconds after she hung up.

She ran as best as she could in her heels, which was more like taking really fast baby steps on her tiptoes. Not only was it Valentine's Day, but it was Friday, so the club was packed and she had to mind the drunken pedestrians as she rolled through the parking lot.

Then she was finally at the back door, punching in the code. How bad was it? Near-death bad, like when Felicity first learned Oliver was the Hood? It was probably a good thing her dress was so red, because bloodstains could be difficult to get out.

Surprisingly, there was no steady beeping of a heart monitor when she opened the door. There was some quiet conversation, a kind of tense mumbling. Felicity picked up the pace as she shrugged off her coat, hoping Oliver was okay.

Then she reached the center of the room, near her computers. No metal operating table or defibrillator, which was good. Just four people standing around.

And that didn't include Felicity.

Laurel was standing next the Oliver. In the lair. Laurel was in the lair. Why was Laurel in the lair? WHY IN THE HELL WAS LAUREL IN THE LAIR?

Felicity glanced at Diggle and Roy, who looked at her apologetically. This clearly wasn't their idea, and they were probably as astounded and aggravated as she was.

Oliver told Laurel his secret. _Their _secret. Without even discussing it with the rest of the team first. He only got back with her two weeks ago and now he trusted her with this?

"Felicity, right?" asked Laurel uncertainly. She seemed to be guessing more than anything, thrown off by Felicity's uncharacteristic ensemble.

She meant to smile and nod, but her mouth had another agenda. "Oliver, you stupid bitch."  
Oliver and Laurel bristled, while Diggle and Roy suppressed smiles.

"What did you say?" demanded Oliver who was an octave away from using his Hood voice.

Felicity curled her hands into fists, her crimson nails pressed against her palms. "What kind of stupid-ass idea is this? You didn't even discuss this with us first!"

The vigilante's eyes narrowed. "Laurel can be trusted."

"So says your dick!" Wow, her dress was making her brave. She needed to stop. She needed to stop right now.

"It would've been nice of you to tell us first." commented Diggle, who mercifully diverted Oliver's attention. "But I'm assuming you kept it a surprise because you knew we'd disagree."

"No," The vigilante was fighting to stay calm. "I did it because I knew it was the right thing to do."

"Like telling Helena was the right thing to do?" Felicity winced at the low blow, but she was glad Diggle brought it up. "As I recall, that didn't end very well."

"In Oliver's defense, Helena is a complete wackjob." countered Felicity. "And as far as we know, Laurel is moderately stable."

"Thanks," the girlfriend said with a hint of irritation.

"It's too late to complain now though, right?" Roy said, finally joining the conversation. "It would make sense to yell at Oliver if he were trying to convince us to agree to tell Laurel, but now she already knows. It's not like we can neuralize her."

"Or kill her," admitted Diggle.

Felicity smirked. "Well, the latter isn't _impossible_…" Then she realized how bad that sounded. "Not that we'd actually do that. That would be insane. We totally wouldn't kill you unless Oliver said it was okay." Then she realized that sounded even worse. "I mean we wouldn't kill you even if Oliver said it was okay, because he'd probably do it himself. Wait, no! Um—"

"Smoak, I think she gets the point." quipped Roy. "Oliver, is it okay to leave now? Felicity and I have plans."

Laurel eyed the two of them as Roy smiled at the I.T. girl. "Whoa… Really, Felicity? Roy used to date Oliver's baby sister. Isn't he a little young for you?"

The questioned couple both rolled their eyes. Before either of them could reply, Diggle came to their rescue. "Yeah, and your relationship with Oliver is really healthy."

_Burn_. Roy and Felicity tried to keep from looking smug as Diggle left to meet Carly. Then Roy picked up the takeout bag and he and Felicity trailed behind him.

The frosty air nipped at Felicity's exposed skin as they stepped outside.

"By the way, I love your dress," Roy remarked before she could pull on her coat. "I mean, _holy smoke_. If it'd had just been us back there, I would've taken you on the mat."

She blushed upon seeing his eyes roaming over her, and decided she could stand the cold a bit longer. At least until they reached her car. "You should see what I'm wearing underneath."

He quirked an eyebrow, a sexy smile on his lips. "I imagined you weren't wearing anything underneath. Now I'm curious."

"You're wearing a tie," she pointed out, hoping to stave off the sexual tension until they got back to her apartment. Car sex didn't seem like a smart idea. "I've never seen you in a tie."

"Borrowed it from Diggle," He ran his fingers over the silky red fabric. "He had to show me how to tie it, too."  
Roy had felt the need to dress up too, which Felicity found adorable. True, it was just a button-down and tie that made his look slightly more formal, but they looked good with his leather jacket, jeans, and black sneakers.

"It looks good on you," she said as they reached the car.

"Thanks," He opened the passenger door for her. "Want me to drive?"  
"Sure," Her back pressed against the side of the car as she crossed her arms over her gooseprickled chest. "And I was wondering… Do you think we could have dessert first?"

It took him a second to catch her meaning. Then he grinned at her. "I've been thinking about dessert all day."

Biting the side of her cherry-red lip, she leaned forward, her eyes locked with his. Their lips brushed, and suddenly he was crushing her against the car. He radiated delicious heat, his body flush with hers and his warm breath on her neck and cheek. She sighed contentedly and closed her eyes, her whole body tingling as his hand explored her curves.

"Down, boy!" she gasped before desire could make her do something stupid. He pulled away, their faces mere inches apart. His lips were messily smeared with her ruby lipstick, and the sight almost made her regret stopping. "We should get out of here first."

Just then, the back door to Verdant opened. Roy and Felicity made the mistake of looking over as Laurel noticed them. She gawked at their red, disheveled appearance before abashedly looking away as she followed Oliver. Her boyfriend either hadn't seen them or was respectfully denying their presence.

The scarlet couple each stifled a giggle before hurrying into the car.


End file.
